Qld to clarify mining projects

The Queensland government is seeking legal advice on whether big mining projects already in the approvals process will be covered by the new “one-stop shop" approvals rules when they come into effect in September next year.

With federal Environment Minister
Greg Hunt
this week due to decide on whether to approve
Arrow Energy
’s $15 billion liquefied natural gas plant at Gladstone, the Queensland government said it wants to clarify how the new laws will apply to existing projects.

Queensland Environment Minister
Andrew Powell
said he hoped to have completed an “administrative streamlining" of approvals by Christmas, as part of the memorandum of understanding signed between the state and the federal government last week.

This would include a single environmental impact statement terms of reference, single assessment for decision making, and single approval conditions, as well as a refreshing of the existing bilateral agreement between the state and the commonwealth.

But he said the state government was still seeking legal advice on whether projects currently in the approval process pipeline would be moved under the new rules when they come into effect in September next year. “It will certainly apply for any new project post-September next year," Mr Powell told The Australian Financial Review.

Mr Powell said the state government was considering embedding of commonwealth officials into state departments under the shake-up, but denied environmental conditions would be watered-down under the new rules.

“Any suggestion of watering down is just false," he said. “Under the bilateral approval process the commonwealth will continue to have oversight."

With the Coalition scoring political mileage out of project delays under the former Labor government, there is pressure on Mr Hunt to make a decision on the Arrow Energy LNG plant within the legislated 28-day deadline, rather than defer the final decision.